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Companies using location data need to be sensitive to privacy concerns and make sure they have the right to use the data, notes Kevin Pomfret, executive director at the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy. Geodata can be used to help people but can also be abused by stalkers, so regulators are struggling with how to handle such information. When using geodata, companies also need to be sure the information is of high quality, Pomfret says.

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Satellite-based personal locator beacons transmit distress signals to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and provide search-and-rescue teams with medical information. PLBs operate under two signals -- one that can get rescuers to within two miles of the wearer's location and a second that provides an exact position.

Levi Strauss is taking steps to conserve water during the production and use of its products. A nonprofit program it underwrote teaches cotton farmers in India, Pakistan, Brazil and parts of Africa about irrigation and reducing water waste. The company is also urging customers to wash less and use only cold water. The worry for producers is that climate change could affect water supplies in cotton-producing regions.

The growing volume and complexity of financial disclosure information in annual reports and other filings is overwhelming for investors and financial executives, making the information less useful, a KPMG report finds. The volume of disclosure information rose 16% over the last six years, the report found. The number of footnotes was up 28%.

The Interior Department's new Geospatial Platform website uses government soil maps, weather maps and other data to allow users to create customized maps. Users can layer maps involving multiple data sets, input their own data and share the results on the Web and through mobile applications.

Getting paid to jet off to one exotic location after another and to have hotel staff at your service sure sounds like a dream job. But only about half of those asked whether they'd "sign" or "decline" if offered a job requiring 90% travel said they'd sign. "Frequent travel for work sounds fun and sexy and international. Many people have no understanding of how grueling it can be," said business travel consultant Chris McGinnis.